Currently existing applications that use wireless local connectivity technologies, such as Bluetooth or WLAN, enable the users to search for nearby devices in order to initiate further interaction. This kind of situation may occur, for example, when there is a need for transferring data from one's mobile phone to another user's mobile device. The results of the search are often presented as a list of all the devices found nearby. From the point of view of interacting with unknown devices or users in the proximity range, this is often insufficient as the presented information lacks details needed for making informed decisions with regard to initiating communication with the identified devices.
For example, let us consider that user A is having coffee in a bar situated along a busy pedestrian street and wishes to initiate a chat with user B, a stranger to A, in the bar. When user A executes a proximity scan for identifying users in possession of a proximity chat application, some of the devices identified can be carried by passers-by on the pedestrian street, whereas other devices can be in the possession of other users also sitting in the bar. This difference is important from the point of view of A's willingness to initiate communication since it is pointless to send a message to a device the proximity overlap duration of which with the device of user A will only be short-termed. Thus, there is a need for distinguishing between those that are passing by and those staying in the vicinity of the user A for a longer period of time.